The American Stroke Association has named George Howard, DrPH, distinguished professor of Biostatistics in the UAB School of Public Health, the winner of the David G. Sherman Lecture Award. The award recognizes lifetime contributions for investigation, management, mentorship and community service in the stroke field.

Howard’s career in public health and medicine spans more than 40 years, with more than 20 years at UAB. He has published 21 book chapters, 565 articles and eight letters in an array of biomedical areas, with emphasis on biostatistics and epidemiology methods, stroke, chronic disease epidemiology, and neurological diseases.

He is the principal investigator for the UAB REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, or REGARDS, a national study that examines why more African Americans die from strokes than other races, and why people in the Southeast develop more strokes. The study has received nearly $100 million in funding from the NIH since it began in 2003.